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It can be argued that Baton Rouge blues is too homogeneous, but on his first album as Super Cooper & Teddy’s Sharecropper Band, Selwyn Cooper is looking to expand that definition. Cooper has played with Buckwheat Zydeco since 1971, when they were called Buckwheat and the Hitchhiker’s R&B Band. He has played alongside Big Mama Thornton, Beau Jacque, and Rockin’ Dopsie, and is a Wednesday night regular at Teddy’s Juke Joint in Zachary. He and trumpeter Dwalyn Jackson repaired to the A/C Recording studio in New Iberia to lay down a mix of blues, jazz and soul, to capture some of that Wednesday night energy for this CD.

Against a backbeat of drum machine and synthesizer, Cooper lets his tasteful guitar licks unfold with his relaxed vocal delivery on mid-tempo boogies like “Crazy Life” and upbeat numbers like “Teddy Joints.” But after that the disc takes off on several tangents. “Sonny” and “Smooth Mood” are straight-up silky-smooth jazz. “Gotta Get Over Your Love” is reminiscent of the disco-jazz crossover tracks that were popular when Teddy opened his club in 1979.

Two tracks delve daringly into uncharted waters for local blues. “Johnny” is an Isaac Hayes-style, half-narrated, half-sung orchestral tribute to Johnny “Guitar” Watson that rides on a hypnotic slow trumpet groove. Even more out there is “Country Boy,” an upbeat R&B variation of the zydeco standard. Cooper’s take is less zydeco proper, but more a song about zydeco, with Cooper telling the story of how the music spread. Hopefully future efforts will include live drums and a horn section, but Cooper is to be applauded for opening up the stylistic spectrum of the blues in Baton Rouge. Here’s hoping others follow suit. selwyncooper.com

Essential tracks: “Johnny,” “Sonny,” “Crazy Life”
Recommended if you like: Isaac Hayes, Kenny Neal, Teddy’s DJ sets during band breaks